It's been over a month since I got the HTC HD7 with Windows Phone 7 on it. I've been a loyal T-mobile customer for over 3 years now and this was their only WP7 handset. There had been a lot of excitement about Microsoft's reaaallllly delayed entrance into the smartphone space (Windows mobile 6.0 and 6.5 were just pathetic attempts to shoehorn their existing OS against the iPhones and Androids). I for one strongly believed that there was definitely space for a third alternative to Apple and Google. As much as I wished for Palm and webOS to succeed, it wasn't the case to be (HP has since bought Palm and doesn't seem to have had much success with it).
First Impressions
The thing that jumps out when you first start using the phone is that it is so smooth. Now I'm jumping the gun a bit, but hear me out. The responsiveness of the OS is almost Iphone-like. It's all jumpy and bouncy with some earnest animations. Let's get back to the hardware. HTC has perfected the art of the big phone starting with the HD2, followed by the EVO-4G and now it has basically replicated the same model on WP7. The screen is a gorgeous 4.3in touchscreen and although is little cumbersome to hold and type with one hand initially, you quickly get used to it. One the backside is a 5MP camera with dual-LED flash and a curious kickstand that is actually great for watching videos or movies on Netflix. The flimsy back cover opens to reveal a 1230mh battery which is a disappointment. With smartphones at the high end and that's where Tmobile and HTC are pitching it, a 1500mh battery is definitely par for the course. The sides have a nice metallic chrome finish and phone looks and feels very classy.
The Real Deal
WP7's homescreen is a series of tiles which Microsoft calls hubs and is designed to be somewhat like widgets in Android but the look and feel is tightly controlled by Microsoft. In the same way the color and background can be toggled between different colors and black/white respectively. But you can't really change the layout and structure. In some ways it felt like Microsoft took the best aspects of Android and married it to the tightly controlled experience of the iPhone. But what strikes you is how different the whole UI is. It truly is a paradigm shift from the grid of icons that we have been used to. Hats off to Microsoft for being able to pull this off.
The idea of marrying the best of the features of iOS and Android pervades throughout the whole OS. For eg: the notifications are displayed is inspired by Android in some ways that the they appear at the top of the screen without interrupting what you're doing currently. The notifications are also denoted as the numbers in the hubs similar to the iphone. The hubs themselves are customizable wherein the developers can update them real time in the background. But at this point not many apps really take advantage of the fact. Copy-paste is very iPhoney which in my world is a good thing.
The one thing that Microsoft got right from the word go has to be the fact the OS is absolutely refined and smooth. The design is very stylish. Microsoft calls this the Metro UI and I'm almost tempted to call it the most hipster-ish design that could be possible for a smartphone. The animations are buttery, the phone has virtually no lag, the apps open and and fade away instantaneously. The phone doesn't shy away from displaying its sheer processing prowess which is hid underneath all the razzmatazz. It packs a 1 Ghz snapdragon processor with 512 mb of RAM. I put it through a few heavy games and they all ran snappily. Microsoft has obviously put a lot of effort into optimizing memory usage and graphics performance of the phone and the results are nothing short of spectacular.
The Bad News
Now for the part which I had hoped would not be large when I first used the phone. Unfortunately there are a few shortcomings. Firstly the OS lacks a lot of features which are frankly considered minimum in today's world. It doesn't have a decent navigation app. Bing maps is a poor substitute. There is no multitasking, not even the Apple variety! Other than the apps which Microsoft proudly displayed at launch, there are hardly any worthwhile apps. Netflix, Facebook, Twitter and Slacker all came preloaded with my handset and are really well built though.
In Conclusion
Microsoft came to this gunfight with an actual gun and one must credit them for that (A MG line for Techcrunch loyalists). They could easily done a 'Kin' part-II and be brutally bludgeoned to oblivion. Having said that it faces up to Hulks with machine guns in the form of Apple and Google who have refined their skills and offerings over time. MS is committed and the new previews of the 'Mango' update seem to already have covered a lot my concerns. What's more, some the features they bring along actually take it a notch over iOS and Android.
Honestly I've been happy I switched to WP7 because it truly does adhere to the philosophy of glance and move on. And I'm going to say it, the first version of WP7 looks more polished and refined than the 6th upgrade of Android!
First Impressions
The thing that jumps out when you first start using the phone is that it is so smooth. Now I'm jumping the gun a bit, but hear me out. The responsiveness of the OS is almost Iphone-like. It's all jumpy and bouncy with some earnest animations. Let's get back to the hardware. HTC has perfected the art of the big phone starting with the HD2, followed by the EVO-4G and now it has basically replicated the same model on WP7. The screen is a gorgeous 4.3in touchscreen and although is little cumbersome to hold and type with one hand initially, you quickly get used to it. One the backside is a 5MP camera with dual-LED flash and a curious kickstand that is actually great for watching videos or movies on Netflix. The flimsy back cover opens to reveal a 1230mh battery which is a disappointment. With smartphones at the high end and that's where Tmobile and HTC are pitching it, a 1500mh battery is definitely par for the course. The sides have a nice metallic chrome finish and phone looks and feels very classy.
The Real Deal
WP7's homescreen is a series of tiles which Microsoft calls hubs and is designed to be somewhat like widgets in Android but the look and feel is tightly controlled by Microsoft. In the same way the color and background can be toggled between different colors and black/white respectively. But you can't really change the layout and structure. In some ways it felt like Microsoft took the best aspects of Android and married it to the tightly controlled experience of the iPhone. But what strikes you is how different the whole UI is. It truly is a paradigm shift from the grid of icons that we have been used to. Hats off to Microsoft for being able to pull this off.
The idea of marrying the best of the features of iOS and Android pervades throughout the whole OS. For eg: the notifications are displayed is inspired by Android in some ways that the they appear at the top of the screen without interrupting what you're doing currently. The notifications are also denoted as the numbers in the hubs similar to the iphone. The hubs themselves are customizable wherein the developers can update them real time in the background. But at this point not many apps really take advantage of the fact. Copy-paste is very iPhoney which in my world is a good thing.
The one thing that Microsoft got right from the word go has to be the fact the OS is absolutely refined and smooth. The design is very stylish. Microsoft calls this the Metro UI and I'm almost tempted to call it the most hipster-ish design that could be possible for a smartphone. The animations are buttery, the phone has virtually no lag, the apps open and and fade away instantaneously. The phone doesn't shy away from displaying its sheer processing prowess which is hid underneath all the razzmatazz. It packs a 1 Ghz snapdragon processor with 512 mb of RAM. I put it through a few heavy games and they all ran snappily. Microsoft has obviously put a lot of effort into optimizing memory usage and graphics performance of the phone and the results are nothing short of spectacular.
The Bad News
Now for the part which I had hoped would not be large when I first used the phone. Unfortunately there are a few shortcomings. Firstly the OS lacks a lot of features which are frankly considered minimum in today's world. It doesn't have a decent navigation app. Bing maps is a poor substitute. There is no multitasking, not even the Apple variety! Other than the apps which Microsoft proudly displayed at launch, there are hardly any worthwhile apps. Netflix, Facebook, Twitter and Slacker all came preloaded with my handset and are really well built though.
In Conclusion
Microsoft came to this gunfight with an actual gun and one must credit them for that (A MG line for Techcrunch loyalists). They could easily done a 'Kin' part-II and be brutally bludgeoned to oblivion. Having said that it faces up to Hulks with machine guns in the form of Apple and Google who have refined their skills and offerings over time. MS is committed and the new previews of the 'Mango' update seem to already have covered a lot my concerns. What's more, some the features they bring along actually take it a notch over iOS and Android.
Honestly I've been happy I switched to WP7 because it truly does adhere to the philosophy of glance and move on. And I'm going to say it, the first version of WP7 looks more polished and refined than the 6th upgrade of Android!
1 comment:
I am very greatfull to you as you shared this.I am recently developing associate app spotify webplayer
that is you may have an interest to seem on that :
Post a Comment